Spatio-Temporal Correlation Analysis of Air Quality in China: Evidence from Provincial Capitals Data

Qingchen Liu, Xinyi Li, Tao Liu and Xiaojun Zhao
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Qingchen Liu: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Xinyi Li: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Tao Liu: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Xiaojun Zhao: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-21

Abstract: In China, public health awareness is growing as people get more concerned about the air quality. Based on the air quality index (AQI) of 31 provincial capital cities (2015–2018) in China, we studied the spatio-temporal correlations of air quality between cities. With spatial, temporal and spatio-temporal analysis, we systematically obtained many interesting results where the traditional analyses may be lacking. Firstly, the air quality of cities has spatial spillover and agglomeration effects and further the spatial correlation becomes higher with time. Secondly, there exists temporal correlation between the current AQI and its past values on multiple time scales, which shows certain periodicity. Thirdly, due to the changing characteristics of time, social activities and other factors affect the air quality positively. However, with the panel data model, the coefficients of spatio-temporal correlation vary for different cities.

Keywords: air quality; spatio-temporal correlation analysis; China city (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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